After a last minute practice in the waiting room, 2PM’s goodbye stage was just about to begin. Mai was pacing around the room, checking her phone every now and then.

“Where is this girl? I sent her a message 20 minutes ago,” she muttered to herself.

“Mai-ah, they’ve practiced enough. I’m sure they’ll remember the choreography,” Renn voiced from her seat. “Just sit down will you.” Mai stopped at the sound of rushed footsteps as the two girls looked up to see a smaller figure appear at the doorway. The figure leaned against the frame of the door as she caught her breath.

“Am I late?” Kass asked innocently as she walked towards the chairs.

“Late? You were supposed to be here 20 minutes ago!” The younger girl jumped back at Mai’s words.

“I’m sorry!” She quickly bowed. “I was about to leave the building when one of the directors asked me to get something and I really couldn’t say no and then I got stuck in traffic and then some of the security guards wouldn’t let me through here cause they thought I was some obsessed fangirl...”

Renn chuckled at the rambling Kass and a stoic Mai. Kass looked like a student being called into the principal’s office to explain her wrong doings.

“...oh, you did find Taecyeon’s glasses right? And they got the change of choreography?”

Mai rolled her eyes at the younger girl. “Yeah, eventually. It would’ve been easier if you arrived on time...”

“Are you still mad?” Kass spoke up. “I really am sorry Mai-um...” She stopped herself at the older girl’s stern expression. “...unnie.”

“Just...don’t be late next time, araso?”

“Araso.” Kass bowed yet again. Mai hid a smile at the apologetic girl. She couldn’t help but feel a little sympathy towards their maknae. Having to run around all day like that would really take its toll on someone but Kass seemed to always be full of energy. Mai made a mental note to make spaghetti for dinner some time soon. Kass had mentioned the craving a while ago, but Mai hadn’t had the time to go buy the ingredients.

Renn stood up from her seat and made her way past the two other girls. “Well, this is my cue to head out backstage. I’m monitoring again today. I’ll see you two after the performance. They’re up next.”

The digital beats that served as the repeating undertone series for Again and Again was Renn’s cue to make a dash towards the soundboard once again. She had double and triple checked everything before giving out the final call to cue the filming, but she was still worried something might go wrong. There was a very little margin of error when it came to filming a live broadcast such as this one, the pressure was even more because it was a Goodbye stage for the boys. Everything had to be perfect.

She positioned the headset on her ears and directed her eyes towards the stage. Her cheeks warmed as soon as she saw Jay’s eyes on her. The lights flashed and the cameras started rolling and Renn watched in bated breath as 2PM took over the stage once more. They were in their I Hate You costumes, doing the first half of Again and Again before cutting the song short and transitioning to I Hate You. So far, nothing had gone wrong, and Renn soon found herself blushing fiercely once again at Jay’s little bit of fanservice: lifting up his shirt for the world to see his toned abdominal muscles. The fans loved every moment of it, chanting ‘2PM’ over and over again, and Renn smiled proudly at herself and at 2PM for a job well done.

Back inside the waiting room, Kass and Mai were busy with their separate lines of work as the members filed back in. Kass was fanning the boys with a large piece of cardboard while the other assistants wiped the sweat off of each of their faces; Mai was busy monitoring the choreography with Park Namyong. Everyone was gathered around the television set watching 2PM’s performance, and Renn squeezed her way in between Junho and Jay to watch as well.

“Noona, you keep appearing out of nowhere,” Junho commented, adjusting his position so Renn could stand properly between him and his hyung.

“Ah, we did great didn’t we,” Junsu said, throwing both his arms around Taecyeon and Chansung.

Next to Junsu, their manager Seo Minjae, agreed, “I just got a message from JYP, looks like he reserved a whole venue for us to celebrate.”

The restaurant wasn’t anything fancy. It was just one of your typical bulgogi places that were fit for around 50 people. 2PM, Namyong, Ian, Mai, and Renn were situated at the table beside the wall where Fuu and Kass were seated with the coordinator a table away from them.

“Are you that hungry Kass-ssi? These are only the appetizers.” Fuu watched the younger girl beside her stuff her face with the various kimchi dishes in front of them.

“No wonder you and Chansung-goon are such good friends,” the coordinator commented. Kass looked up at the older woman across from her. She attempted to pull a face but the food stuffed in her cheeks made her fail to do so.

“You know...unnie...that’s actually...how we...became friends,” Kass replied in between bites. The coordinator just shook her head as she got up. “Where you going coordi-unnie?” The woman held up her phone and Kass just nodded, continuing on with her eating.

Kass began to relate her encounter with Mai earlier to Fuu when she noticed the older girl’s attention was fixated on something, or someone, else. Kass followed Fuu’s gaze, her eyes landing on a certain Ok Taecyeon. A sly smile played on the younger’s lips.

“Earth to Fuu~” She waved a wand in front of Fuu’s face in amusement, bringing the older girl back to reality.

“Oh, sorry Kass-ssi. I just...” Fuu pressed her lips together in slight embarrassment as she turned her attention back to Kass. “Anyway. What were you saying?” Kass placed her arms on the table and turned in the other direction.

“Doesn’t matter now.” Fuu nudged her and muttered a ‘sorry’ as Kass continued, “Since I don’t think you’ll be paying attention to me now that he’s on your mind.” She smirked, nodding her head towards Taecyeon. Fuu’s eyes widened at the younger girl’s accusation.

“What?! I wasn’t...I was just...” she stuttered as her cheeks took on a red tint, betraying her thoughts.

“Sure Fuu-unnie.” Kass giggled in response. “So how’s it going between you two? Made any advancements?” She nudged the older girl playfully.

“What are you talking about Kass-ssi?” Fuu’s voice came out higher than she anticipated. “I don’t even see him... at all.” She let out a soft sigh.

“Do you like him?” Kass asked the older girl quietly, trying to contain her curiosity. Fuu’s eyes were still fixated on the table, but slowly her head bobbed up and down.

“I think so. But... I don’t see him often, so I don’t really know him... ”

“So you should get to know him better,” Kass stated cheerfully as she stood up. Fuu gave her a look of shock as Kass pulled the older girl onto her feet.

“What? Kass-ssi... We can’t go over there. I don’t even know what to say!” Fuu had already started blushing again as Kass smiled at her mischievously.

“It’s okay, I’ll help you!” And with that, Kass pulled Fuu along, ignoring the older girl’s protests as she excitedly dragged the older girl towards 2PM’s table.

Kass and Fuu arrived to a noisy group of people. The members were chatting happily amongst themselves, joking around with each other as they waited for their food. Junho was unconsciously tapping his finger against his knee as he surveyed his group. His eyes stopped at Renn who was sitting opposite him, sandwiched in between their leader and their producer, Ian Choe. He watched her as she conversed with Jay, most of their conversation lost in the the chatter happening around him. Junho’s eyes flew open as a thought occurred to him, and he turned to the girl on sitting on his right. Mai was quiet as well, nodding her head ever so slightly to some unknown beat.

“Mai-ah, is it Renn-noona’s birthday today?”

Mai turned as Junho nudged her arm with his elbow, completely missing what the boy had just asked her. She raised her eyebrows in question. “Hm?”

Junho frowned as Mai gave him a blank look. “Is it Renn-noona’s birthday today?” he repeated in a semi-curious tone.

Mai hesitated, before reaching her phone and flipping it open to check the date. She looked back up at him, her lips just barely turned up in a smile. “Maybe. Why do you ask?”

Junho couldn’t meet her eyes; Mai had a way of acting oblivious in a way that made it seem like she already knew everything. Instead, Junho shifted his gaze to Namyong who was sitting on Mai’s other side, who was in the middle of a conversation with Wooyoung.

“Um. Cause I remembered someone mentioning it...” When his eyes went back to Mai- the girl was holding back a smile as she watched him with interest. He gave her a look. “What?”

Mai merely laughed softly as she turned to watch Kass and Fuu. “You probably overheard it from Jay. You guys room together right? We should probably do something for her tonight...” Mai replied, her eyes were still on her maknaes who were in the middle of an English conversation with Taecyeon and Nichkhun.

Junho nodded even though Mai wasn’t looking at him. He glanced back across at Renn who had a slight smile across her face; the leader nudged her shoulder, and a small laugh erupted from her lips.

There was a tug at the pit of his stomach, and the food had yet to arrive.

A loud cheer broke out across the room as the servers emerged from the kitchen with trays full of food. Chansung was grinning happily in his seat waiting for Minjae to give the signal.

“Everyone,” Minjae said, getting up from the table to address the room. “We’re all here today to celebrate a successful goodbye stage performance--”

“And it’s also Renn’s birthday! Our lovely Renn, who mixed today’s track, is turning 22 in South Korea today,” Ian supplied, pushing Renn to get up a bit on her knees so the rest of the room could see her.

Renn smiled sheepishly and sank back into her seat slapping Ian lightly on the arm. “You didn’t have to announce it to the whole room,” she said. “Not everyone has to know.”

Ian’s reply was drowned out by the clapping and hooting at the big news. Everyone was sending congratulations her way, and Renn quickly looked back up to acknowledge the comments. Feeling embarrassed, Renn turned away, only to catch Junho watching her with his famous eye-smile.

“Happy Birthday Noona.”

She couldn’t help matching his calming smile with her own. As she thanked him, she caught Mai’s eye from beside the younger boy. The corners of Mai’s lips were curled upwards but instead of verbally congratulating her like everyone else, the younger girl winked, taking Renn by surprise.

The older girl, not really knowing how to react to her roommates actions, dropped her eyes to her food and started picking out the smaller pieces of meat first. Renn reached for the bowl that contained the lettuce wraps, but another hand grabbed it before her. Jay smiled as he took the bowl and settled it closer to Renn, taking his chopsticks and picking up a few more pieces of meat to place them on her bowl.

“Thanks,” Renn said softly, looking around the table to make sure they were left unnoticed.

She watched Jay from the corner of her eye as he continued to joke around with the other members. She noticed his hand on his phone, and after a few seconds, her own phone vibrated from inside her pocket.

“Meet me near the back while everyone is busy stuffing their faces.”

Renn edged away from the table slowly, stopping short when Junho caught her gaze. “Noona, where are you going?”

“Uhm...ladies room,” Renn quickly replied as she stood up and shuffled towards the back of the room.

After a minute or so, Jay stood from his seat as well, excusing himself, saying he had a phone call to make, all the while avoiding Junho’s watchful eye.

He hurried towards the restrooms where Renn was waiting. The corner was empty as he had hoped and he walked up behind her, whispering a happy birthday in her ear. Renn spun around to face him, her face hot and red from Jay’s proximity.

“I got you a present, it’s nothing big,” Jay said, pressing something against Renn’s palm. “Can’t stay long, Junho already looks at me funny.”

Before Renn could reply, Jay was already on his way back to the 2PM table, and she was left staring at yellow fluffy eighth note cellphone strap in her hand.